Matthew 22:15-22

Rendering What is Owed

Trinity 23

November 19, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

They are at it again.  It seems as though the Pharisees never tire of trying to trip Jesus up in His words. This time, they are trying to put Jesus in the middle of church and state issue. So they ask Him if it is lawful to pay taxes. If Jesus were to say that they should not pay Caesar, then He would be guilty of robbing Caesar. If He said you should pay them and regard Caesar as Lord, then that would insult God, who wants to be the nation’s only Lord and only king. The Pharisees thought that whichever way Jesus would answer, He would get into trouble in some way. We see this over and over again as Jesus’ opponents talk to Him. They don’t like Him, so they try to trap in His words and make Him say something that is going to be Himself in trouble. But it never turns out quite right for them. 

Jesus has a wisdom that is greater than theirs, for He is wisdom that Proverbs speak about.   “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion…” and later, “By Me, kings reign, and rulers decree what is just, by Me princes rule, and noble, all who govern justly.” (Proverbs 8). They don’t realize, or they just flat out reject, that Jesus is Lord, and the Caesar exists by the grace of God and is placed in that position as a mask of God to for the sake of peace and good order in the world. 

Regardless, we should be less concerned with how the Pharisees try to trap Jesus and more concerned with Jesus’ answer about rendering what is owed. “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).  What does this look like? This is included in the Small Catechism, under the title “Table of Duties.” If you haven’t looked at that in a while, it is worth it checking out. It’s simply a list of Bible passages concerning out different vocations in life and how Christians are to act. So let’s take this one at a time and explore the Lord’s words.

“Render to Caesar.” Most of the time, when I think about this passage or a sermon on this passage, I think about paying taxes. The Roman tribute was rendering to Caesar an acknowledgment for the benefits of law, security, and order of living in the Roman Empire. Render back what is owed, acknowledging the benefits of living under the lordship of each kingdom. The same goes still today. As citizens of the United States, as residents of Nampa and the surrounding communities, we have a duty to be good citizens, to be law abiding citizens, to strive for peace and harmony in our lives and conduct.

But it doesn’t stop there.  In fact, that’s not really Jesus’ point.  The Lord’s response to this is “Render to God the things that belong to God.” For the Pharisees this doesn’t mean give more money, or pay the right amount of taxes.  They were keeping the Law in an external way. They paid taxes. They were tithing. They were going to the Temple. They were faithfully reciting the Shema, the Old Testament Creed. Yet, the rejected their Lord and their Creator standing right in front of them. They sought to trap Jesus for the sake of murdering Him. They were hypocrites, acting for the sake of appearance but not believing it in their hearts. In our Gospel reading, we hear how Jesus is offering Himself to the Pharisees, and to us, that they might be freed from the hypocrisy and know the joy of giving to God what He already has.

What were they, what are you, to render to God? In Divine Service 1, we sing Psalm 116:12-13, 17-19 as our offertory that asks, and answers, this very question.  “What shall I render to the Lord, for all His benefits to me? I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord. I will take the cup of salvation and will call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.”  We are to return to God for our creation, for our preservation, and all our blessings in life.

What belongs to God? You do. He has claimed you, redeemed you out of slavery and is restoring His image in you through faith and the deliverance of His grace. Human creatures naturally belong to their Maker, who stamped His image on them at creation.  Sin shattered that image.  By His atoning work upon the cross, He declares you holy and righteous. The Lord restores His image through the waters of Baptism. As Baptized children of God, declared righteous through faith in His word upon the cross and sustained by His body and blood in the Sacrament, you are bearing the image of Christ, who will transform these lowly bodies to be like His glorious body, a body that bears the image of God.

In the Epistle, St. Paul reminds us that we our citizenship is in heaven. We are resident aliens here, and that is our struggle.  Our Gospel gives us instruction for our earthly walk as citizens in heaven. To Caesar we are to give what is his, but to God we are to give what is His. The Christian will always be the ideal world citizen if he obeys the Lord, though the world may not recognize it.

The division into sacred and secular is convenient, but it is no more than some duties are paid to God and some to your neighbor. Our neighbors are best served, Caesar is best served, by those who serve him for God’s sake. Christ bids us to render to Caesar and we do it because Christ bids us, and in doing so we serve not Caesar but Christ.

When there is a conflict between what God says and what man says, between how God rules and the way that government rules, remember your citizenship. When faced with such situations in the books of Acts, St. Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” We give both kingdoms the honor that they are due since God rules through both. Jesus does not say, “give to Caesar whatever he wants.”  But He sets a limit on how far he should reach. That limit is “what is Caesar’s.” Only that which belongs to him is by the grace of God. Caesar can have our taxes, he can have our loyalty.  Our lives are with Christ, both our lives here and now and our eternal life.

We can, in an external way, set our wills to fulfilling the Law. We can pay our taxes, honor the government, obey the laws.  We set a portion of our income for the work of the Church, for the care of the poor. We can recognize that God has given us duties to one another and then set about doing them. We can fulfill part of the Law in an external way and it is good when we do so. The Pharisees aren’t told to stop tithing, and neither are we.  God makes a claim on everything you have and everything you are belongs to Him and is to be in His service.

Thank God there is more to rendering unto God what is God’s than our keeping of the Law. Nothing belongs to God more than Christ Himself. Born without sin, Christ is the ultimate offering made on our behalf.  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:1–3).

The Lord Himself is the ultimate cheerful giver. He renders unto God what is God’s: Himself. He does hold back. He doesn’t daydream about having more.  He doesn’t act as a hypocrite. He willingly go to the cross. No one takes His life from Him, but He willingly gives it that you may have life. He not only forgives our sins and declares us righteous, but He also presents us to His Father as His pure, righteous bride. He gives Himself. He restores our image as a child of God. And He renders to His Father we who have been redeemed by Him. Jesus fulfills the Law for us. He renders to God what belongs to God so that we again belong to God.